Food

When I finally accepted the fact that I was to be an unmarried man of 47, the first call that came offering to introduce me to a woman was from my then friend, Taki Theodoracopulos (politics has since parted us). I didn’t know that it was to be the only such call I would ever receive in more than three years of eligible bachelorhood – but it didn’t matter. Because Taki was calling me from the noisy pay phone at Elaine’s, the restaurant on 2^nd Avenue and 92^nd Street.

Today, the Senate is likely to vote on the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010 (S510). But the bill is little more than an enormous grant of money and power to the Food and Drug Administration and a lot of reporting burdens imposed on the private sector. Those who favor a smaller, leaner government should oppose it.

Did you know that New York City was recently ranked the seventh craziest city in America, based on psychiatrists per capita, stress levels, eccentricity, and alcohol consumption? If one were to judge on its politicians’ ideas, though, the Big Apple would be a shoo-in to receive the “wacko” blue ribbon.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, this loony bin also serves as an incubator for ill-advised trends that eventually go national. Remember the trans fat ban? It got its start in NYC.